[Reader-list] Fwd: Pakistan - Day two of underground life

[Nishant Upadhyay]

really worth reading in its entirety...



Pakistan - Day two of underground life
  By: Farooq Tariq
general secretary
Labour Party Pakistan


Today is my second day in underground life. On 3rd November
 2007, when General Musharaf declared an emergency and suspended the
 constitution, I was in Toba Tek Singh, a city around four hours from Lahore.
 This was to attend a meeting for the preparations of the Labour Party
 Pakistan fourth national conference. The conference was scheduled to held
 9/10/11th November in the city. Poster for the welcome of the
 delegates were printed and an invitation card to invite supporters for the
 open session of the conference was ready as well.

The meeting was nearly ending when I heard the news that
 emergency is been declared. I decided immediately to travel to Lahore. I was
in contact with other party comrades on telephone and every one
 advised me not to go to my home. This was in the background of my three
 arrests in three months where I spent 23 days in jails and police stations.
 Labour Party Pakistan has become a target for the military regime
 because of active participation in the advocate movement. Several comrades had
been arrested during the movement.

As I arrived in Lahore, I heard that police has raided my house
 and are
looking for me. My partner Shahnaz Iqbal told them that I am not
 home
and will not be at home because I know that I will be arrested.
 This was
around 11.30pm when police came to my home. It was good decision
 not to
go home.



I was immediately given few Sims of mobile phone from different
 private
telephone companies and was advised not to use my regular mobile
 number
in any case. "I must use a new number to contact comrades every
 day to
avoid been traced" was the advice. The telecommunication system
 is so
advance that when I will on my regular mobile, they can know
 where I am
and can be immediately arrested.



All the private television channels were off the air. It was
 only the
official television that was broadcasting the official
 propaganda. Even
BBC and CNN were off the line as well. We were in dark and did
 not know
what is coming up. The government was using its dictatorial
 measures to
silence any

oppositional  voice being heard by people of Pakistan on the
 news media.
It was an unprecedented act of censorship.



After midnight, General Musharaf came up on the official
 television to
tell the reasons why he has imposed the emergency and that usual

demagogy of national interest and Pakistan First. He was trying
 to tell
that he has removed the chief justice of Supreme Court of
 Pakistan
because his decisions have promoted terrorism and suicidal
 attacks in
Pakistan. This was all none since. He had imposed the emergency
 rules to
prolong his power period and was to avoid the Supreme Court
 decision
that might be against him. It was a dictatorial act by a
 dictator who
had tried to convince the world that he is not a dictator. That,
 he is
in a transition period from dictatorship to democracy.



I was awake till 3am trying to listen some international news
 from the
radio.



Next day was Sunday and I went out to buy the newspapers. The
 area I was
staying was where I never had been earlier and no one knew who I
 am and
so on. But the newspapers were not there yet even at 8am. I went
 back
home and in the meantime, I put on my regular mobile telephone
forgetting that I am in underground. There was immediately call
 from a
friend and I replied to him. This was a mistake.



I was told by my friend to change the venue immediately that is
 what I
did. This was my second place in hiding during the last 12
 hours. Here I
read all the papers. Then I went to a park three kilometers away
 from my
place of stay and spoke to some party comrades from my new
 telephone
numbers and discussed the political situation. I called my
 family as
well to check the moral. It was high as ever. My daughter and
 son asked
me not to come home and that they are ok.



A meeting by Joint Action Committee for Peoples Rights was
 called at the
office of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan to discuss and
 chart out
the strategy to oppose the dictatorial meausre. The chairperson
 of Human
Rights Commission of Pakistan Asma Jahanghir was already
 detained at her
house. And her office called me to tell the comrades to come for
 the
meeting. I told them I will not be there and if police see me
 they will
immediately arrest me.



Khalid Malik, director Labour Education Foundation and Azra Shad

chairperson Women Workers Help Line were among those who arrived
 in time
for this meeting. So were around 70 others. Comrade Maqsood
 Mojahid,
Khaliq Shah and Bushra Khaliq were little late for the meeting.
 As they
arrived, they saw police everywhere around the HRCP office. They
 stopped
and contacted inside via phones to tell them be ready for the
 arrests.
This was may be the only time when being late has paid off. This

laziness of three comrades saved them being arrested.



Police went inside and broke the doors. They asked women to
 leave and
men to stay for arrests. The women refused. The women included
 Hina
Jilani, Rubina Sahgal, Neelum Hussain, Syeda Deep and Azra Shad.
 They
were all bundled to the nearest police station. This incident
 showed the
intensity of the police brutality and the military regime to
 silence any
opposition voice. It was first time since the establishment of
 Human
Rights Commission of Pakistan office in 1986, that police
 entered the
building. It was considered to be a safe place and that police
 will not
dare to enter.



I heard within few minutes from Bushra, secretary Women Workers
 Help
Line of the arrests. She told me to be more careful.



In the evening, I made another mistake to on my regular
 telephone. Bad
habits die hard. So there was a call, I spoke to a journalist
 from a
private tv channel against the arrests. I immediately realized
 the
mistake and left that place to stay another one for the evening.
 As I
arrived at the new place, a received a call around 11.30 pm that
 police
has entered my home and checked me everywhere. My partner told
 me next
morning that police came with some intelligence officers in
 plain
cloths. They ordered her to open the door otherwise they will
 break in.
When police entered my home, it was only my daughter (13) son
 (7) and my
partner Shahnaz at home. The police opened every room,
 cupboards,
bathroom, and went to the rooftop. They were desperate to arrest
 me.



I was upset after hearing the news but did not call home for
 security
reasons. It was hard but I had to be patient, I was told by my
 friends.



Today is Monday.  We had decided to bring the weekly paper
 Workers
Struggle in time and today was the last day of the paper
 production. It
was decided that we would not work at the usual office of the
 paper;
police might even come there. So decided to bring the
 equipments,
computer, and printer and so on to a new place for working
 together. I
also told the comrades I would come and write the main article
 for the
paper.



We were five together to work on the paper. I wrote the article
 and was
on new telephone line to hear about the whole scale arrests of
 the
advocates all over the country. Over seven hundreds have been
 arrested.
Police entered the Lahore High Court building for the first time
 in the
history and arrested the advocates after they were severely
 beaten up.
It was writing a new history of police atrocities under a
 military
dictatorship.



 Khalid Malik and Azra Shad along other were charged and sent to
 the
same jail, Kot Lakhpat, where I had spent around ten days in
 June this
year. Lucky they are, the weather is ok and not hot.  We
 discussed some
more measures for tomorrow.



We decided to fight back the military regime and to organize the

movement. It was agreed that I will not come up open but will be
 active
in organizing the movement until my arrest on job. It was agreed
 that we
will not accept the dictatorial measures and will organize the
demonstrations and will ask comrades be ready for more arrests.



Here I am sitting in a net café at 6pm to write this and sent it
 from
there. I had to travel over 20 kilometers to reach my place for
 this
evening.




Farooq Tariq
general secretary
Labour Party Pakistan
40-Abbot Road Lahore, Pakistan
Tel: 92 42 6315162 Fax: 92 42 6271149  Mobile: 92 300 8411945,

labourpartypk at yahoo.com
<mailto:labourpartypk at yahoo.com> www.laborpakistan.org
<http://www.laborpakistan.org/>  www.jeddojuhd.com
<http://www.jeddojuhd.com/>




Rise like lions after slumber
In unvanquished number,
Shake your chains to earth like dew,
Which in sleep have fallen on you:
Ye are many, they are few,"